Why Hiring BAD Jacksonville Property Management Cost An Owner Over $3,000
Almost every owner we talk to whose home is vacant says the same thing – they just want a tenant. But, the quality of the tenant you choose can make or break your experience as a landlord. Today, we’re talking about tenant screening and why hiring the wrong Jacksonville property management company can cost you $3,000 or more.
Hiring a Property Management
Let’s use an example. Mary has a three bedroom, two bathroom single family home in a nice, quiet middle income neighborhood. She has to move for work, and decides to keep her property as a rental. She can rent it for $1,000 a month, which will cover her expenses and give her a profit each month. Mary does a quick Google search and hires first property manager she finds. They assure her they will find a great tenant, and their placement fee is only 50 percent of the rent, or $500. It sounds like a deal.
Property Management Jacksonville: Screening a Tenant
Mary’s property management company finds a tenant who just loves the place and is ready to move in. They do a basic application, perform a credit check, and run a background check. The tenant checks out, with no felonies and a credit score of 550. The credit score is low, but the tenant meets the income requirements. The management company ignores the fact that the prospect has only been at her job for two months. They did not ask for a rental history or do any landlord verifications. The tenant puts down the deposit, pays the first month’s rent, and moves in. The first two months are great. Rent comes in and there are no issues. Mary starts to think this is easy.
Property Management Cost
Month three arrives, and by the fifteenth, Mary has still not received any money. She calls her property manager to find out what’s going on and gets the bad news that her tenant hasn’t paid rent that month. The tenant lost her job and can’t find a new one. Mary has to make the hard and expensive decision to file an eviction. The eviction takes a month, and now Mary has lost two months of rent.
When the tenant has finally been evicted, the property manager calls Mary with more bad news. The tenant painted two bedrooms poorly with dark paint. There was an unauthorized dog who peed on the carpet in every room. There are two broken windows, a flea infestation, and the tenant ran into the garage door with her car, leaving it inoperable. To repaint is $550, including labor and supplies. All the carpet has to be replaced, and that bill is $1,500. The replacement of the windows is $500, and pest control treats twice for fleas inside and once in the yard, which is a total of $375. The garage door is the least expensive repair, and only $300. Court costs and attorney fees for the eviction add up to $420.
The tenant’s security deposit was applied to rent, and every expense had to come out of Mary’s pocket. Her grand total was $3,645. This doesn’t include the month of rent she lost that wasn’t covered by the security deposit, and the money Mary had to spend on her mortgage.
Just looking at a rental history would have saved thousands of dollars.
We take tenant screening seriously, and our standards are high. Unfortunately, not all property management companies are as serious about qualifying tenants. If you’re looking for a good quality tenant, please contact us at CenterBeam Real Estate.
